Harry Benson: I liked the King of Spain. He’s the way that royalty should be. Not at all like the British royal family. I’ve stood in the British royal yacht for hours on end, and nobody’s ever given me a drink of water. The King of Spain came over and gave me his sherry. And he came over again and gave me another Sherry. Could you imagine Prince Philip or the Queen or Prince Charles doing that? No way.
I was packing up, and King Juan Carlos’ dogs were running around the garden. A bunch of puppies. He is gathering one, gathering another, by the scruff of the neck, and putting them in a pen. I thought, God, that’s a good picture. So what I did was, I ran down there, went into the pen, and left the pen door open. All the dogs went back out again. [Laughs] The King looked at me, as if to say, “You know, you are a fool.”
I said, “Oh, I’m sorry, Your Royal Highness. Is there a way you could get the dogs again?” And I got my picture.
(Interview on January 10, 1992. Excerpted from: John Loengard, LIFE Photographers: What They Saw, Boston, A Bullfinch Press Book, 1998). Photograph © 1985 Harry Benson.
